The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meets yearly. This years meeting, again, pinpointed that lifestyle does make a difference. BMI or Body Mass Index and waist–to-hip circumference are important and easy to use measures of obesity. People with abdominal obesity are at increased risk for all types of cancer.

Decreasing obesity: Litton and colleagues writing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology compared BMI and response to chemotherapy in 1,169 women with breast cancer from 1990 to 2004. Normal weight patients were more likely to have tumor shrinkage after chemotherapy than heavier patients. Obese patients also had more aggressive and difficult-to-treat tumors (less hormone-dependant tumors), more Stage III and IV tumors and worse overall survival four years later.

Increasing Exercise: Irwin investigated whether walking makes a difference in survival. Compared with women who were inactive both before and after diagnosis, women who increased physical activity after diagnosis had a 45% lower risk of death.  On the other hand, women who decreased physical activity after diagnosis had a four-fold greater risk of death.

This information presented at the ASCO meeting clarifies that breast cancer patients can improve their survival outcomes, measured as disease-free survival and over-all survival, by reducing their BMI (obesity) and increasing their exercise. Further, reducing BMI improves response to cancer treatments and reduces complications. BMI data show that even brisk walking provides a survival benefit for breast cancer patients. All women with breast cancer should be encouraged to eat well and exercise.

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